JANESVILLE--Janesville Craig's bats sprang to life on Thursday afternoon.

The Cougars pounded out 17 hits over five innings, and combined with a one-hitter from freshman Julia Humphrey, they raced away with the season's first crosstown rivalry game. They beat Janesville Parker, 19-2, in a Big Eight softball game at the Janesville Youth Sports Complex.

The onslaught came just one day after Craig manufactured a seventh-inning run to squeak out a pivotal Big Eight road win, 1-0, over Madison La Follette.

“I think we really adjusted well,” Craig coach Dan Bayreuther said. “Sometimes that's kind of hard to do when you have different pitchers with different speeds. We had some good quality at-bats, and that was good to see.”

The Cougars jumped on top right away, as five of their first six batters reached base and scored. The rally was capped by junior Laura Heilman's run-scoring double, and she finished the day 3-for-5 at the plate.

The Vikings answered with two runs thanks in part to a pair of Craig fielding blunders in their half of the first, but Humphrey settled in after that.

“We played Saturday and didn't play very well, but we go to Tuesday and fix some things and play a lot better,” Parker coach Alli Driscoll said. “Two days later we couldn't find it.

“It's about coming out with an attitude every day. The first inning really hurt us, but we should be able to come back from that. We just never bounced back.”

Humphrey threw all five innings and allowed only a single to center by Parker senior Ashlie Homan. The Craig starter walked four batters but also struck out four.

“The only thing that concerns me is the walks,” Bayreuther said. “But she did a great job, and we certainly didn't help her in the first inning.”

It was all Cougars after that.

Senior Kayley Hackett was 4-for-5 with three RBI and three runs scored. Senior catcher Sarah Holford was 2-for-3 with a double, a triple, three RBI and three runs. Junior Gabby Loveland went 3-for-5 with three runs, and junior shortstop Al Hughes was 2-for-3 with three runs scored.

The Cougars will try to keep momentum rolling when they travel to Madison Memorial on Monday. Parker plays Tuesday at Madison La Follette.